Even When

I can’t just praise you when things are going well, when everyone is healthy, when there’s money in the bank, or my prayers are being answered how I want them to be.

I need to praise you in the even when.

Even when the healing doesn’t happen.

Even when the biopsy results come back positive.

Even when the water comes in the front door.

Even when the person you have prayed for seems like they’ll be lost forever.

Even when you don’t get the job.

Even when that friend turns their back on you.

As a believer in Jesus, there is hope because of the work Christ did on the cross. Our hope is that this isn’t our home. That this isn’t all there is.

Last fall I attended a funeral of a 20-year-old who died under tragic, senseless circumstances. His Dad got up there and talked about the hope, peace, and love of Christ. If on the worst week of this man’s life he was able to have hope in Christ, there’s something tangible there. That peace, that joy, that hope doesn’t come from reading a bunch of self-help books or doing yoga everyday.

It comes from Jesus.

Last night our senior pastor passed away after complications from a heart attack. He was 55. It’s a tragic loss. But, his wife exudes this hope. Is she broken and hurting? Definitely. However, she is choosing to praise him, even when the worst happened.

Christ calls us to hope in him in the even when’s of our lives.

Christ alone is what enables us to say “yet I will praise you” even in the worst circumstances.